No virtual USB printer port option and device thinks its an IEEE 1284.4 printing support device

I appreciate your suggestions, but nothing is working.  I do have a parallel printer attached which I have uninstalled and removed drivers just to see if that made a difference.  I have used the cleanspl.exe function and it did not work.  I can plug this printer into my Win XP laptop and it is recognized and loaded in Device Manager as a USB Printing Support device.  When I plug the same USB cable into my desktop, it goes through the Add Hardware Wizard and it ins't recognized as a USB device, only an IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support device.  I have cleaned the memory out of the printer (not that I thought it would help, but I'm running out of ideas).  When I try to add the printer manually, I do not have a USB port option.  I also have an HP printer (PSC 2355) that I can plug into the same USB port and it is recognized as a USB device.

Through this various troubleshooting methods, the only anomoly is when I first loaded the printer, I chose the generic IEEE 1284,4 Printing Support driver and now that is the only way it is recognized.  If there is a way to wipe out that historic assigment, it may see it as a USB device. 

Again, this printer with the same drivers and cable work on other XP boxes I have here and on a Windows 7 box.  A different USB printer works in the same port I'm trying to connect the Zebra printer to.  Why would this box recognize this printer as an IEEE 1284 device when others don't?  I've reinstalled usbprint and usbmon.dll files just to be safe, but given it is recognizing other USB devices, that didn't seem like it would be the problem.

Did you go to Server Properties > Drivers and delete the Zebra drivers there before attempting to reinstall the printer?  You really need to do that or you will end up using the old driver (and probably the old port assignment) even though you think you are reinstalling the driver (for details, Google for differences between INF and PNF files).

If you completely uninstall everything related to the Zebra printer, the "clean" install should do things correctly, including creating the USB virtual port.

If deleting the Zebra drivers from the list in Server Properties > Drivers still doesn't let you do a really clean install, then see http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm and read the part starting with "If the Print Spooler service is not operational, or you want to make certain there are no printer driver remnants..."  I suggest using cleanspl.exe rather than the manual method, but that's up to you.

**********************************Parenthetical Discussion***********************************

A DOT4_001 port is usually (in my experience) created by installation of HP printers that originally used a parallel port but were updated to work with newer computers that no longer had parallel ports but had USB ports instead.  The IEEE 1284 protocol refers to parallel ports.  See this for a bit more:  http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci860597,00.html

If you have another printer (perhaps an HP printer) that is using a DOT4 port, that might prevent the port from being deleted. 

What error message, if any, do you get when  you attempt to delete the port?

In any case, you really shouldn't have to delete the port.

*****************************End Parenthetical Discussion***************************************

************************************If Even Cleanspl.exe Doesn't Help You***********************

When you look at the list of ports, is there a Virtual USB port listed?  It will be named USB001 or similar. 

The problem is that it is difficult to create a "virtual USB port" without using some printer installation routine.  The typical suggestion is to find some random USB printer, install it, and then use the virtual USB port for the printer you really want.  See the following thread where I tried to help someone do this, but the results were inconclusive --> http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-hardware/how-can-i-manually-add-a-usb-printer-port/38424e6c-87f8-4b93-b197-c0d2f70368b8?page=1

Once (if) you create a virtual USB port, you should be able to install the printer manually by UNchecking the box in the Add A Printer wizard to "Automatically install my plug and play printer."

I have already uninstalled and reloaded the drivers from both Zebra and Seagull Scientific and the printer is still only recognized as an ieee 1284.4 printing support device on this computer.

When I go to Server Properties / Ports, it won't let me delete the port the printer assigns to.  It is listed as a DOT4_001 port with a Description of Generic IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support. 

All other computers appear to recognize this printer as requiring the USB Printing Support driver, but this computer lists it as an IEEE device.  How can I change it?  I can't delete the port and have cleared all buffers that I can think of so it doesn't try to reinstall the same way as it did before, but no luck.

I suggest completely uninstalling the printer using the procedure described in Article One steps 1 through 5.  Do not skip Step 4.

Steps 6 through 9 are written for most normal consumer printers.  I suggest that you go here --> http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/index/drivers_downloads/drivers/results.html?productType=7&printerid=7140 

You can download just the driver package or you can also download the Setup Utilities. 

For more information about the Setup Utilities, go here --> http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/index/drivers_downloads/utilities/other_utilities/zebra_setup_utilities.html  and watch the videos linked at the right side of that page